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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    19 views3 pages

    Conditional

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    Conditional

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    of 3

    Core and Quirks

    Monday, January 19, 20 15

    Conditional Sentences
    Introduction

    Traditionally, conditional sentences are categorized as type 1, type 2 or type 3 (many books mention
    type 0, which uses the present simple in both clauses). However, the missing type isn't often mentioned
    in grammar books. And with each type certain variations are possible.
    Michael Swan's Oxford English Grammar Course, which won the Award in English Language Teaching
    (ELT) Writing conferred by the British Council, presents a different point of view:
    "Many students' grammars and course books suggest that there are three possible structures in
    sentences with 'if': the so-called 'first', 'second' and 'third' conditionals. Some add a fourth: the 'zero
    conditional'. This is rather misleading. In fact, any normal combination of tenses is possible with 'if'".
    In this blog post I would like to outline my own viewpoint on the same issue.

    Conditional clauses
    There are 12 tenses in English:
    Well go for a walk.
    We always went to see my granddad.
    We eat outside on the terrace.
    We can also use a number of modal verbs:
    We can usually get a baby sitter.
    We would ask our neighbour. (Every time we wanted someone.)
    There are questions:
    Will you give her a message?
    And imperatives:
    Contact our customer service department.

    To every one of the structures above we can add a conditional clause:


    If the weather improves, well go for a walk.
    If my father had a day off, we always went to see my granddad.
    If the weather is fine, we eat outside on the terrace.
    Modal verbs:
    If we go out, we can usually get a baby sitter.
    If we wanted someone to fix something, we would ask our neighbour.
    Questions:
    If you see Dora, will you give her a message?
    Imperatives:
    If you should wish to cancel your order, contact our customer service department.

    Rule #1
    In conditional clauses, we use present tenses instead of future tenses:
    - I think the weather will improve.
    - If the weather improves, well go for a walk.

    Rule #2
    In conditional clauses, we move one tense back when a situation is unreal, improbable or imagined:
    If the weather improves... (It is possible or likely that the weather will improve.)
    If the weather improved... (It is not likely that the weather will improve.)
    If it came yesterday he will surely have told her.*
    If it had come yesterday he would surely have told her.*

    Rule #3
    Unreal conditional clauses can only be added to sentences with modal verbs could, should,
    would and might, which are used for less definite meanings:
    If the weather improved, we could go for a walk.
    We add "have" to modal verbs to indicate the past:
    If he had stayed in the same room as Dave, it would have been a disaster.
    Note:
    Some conditional sentences have ambiguous meaning:
    If we wanted someone to fix something, we would ask our neighbour.
    The past tense in the conditional clause could mean that the sentence refers to the past, but it could
    also indicate that the situation is not real or not probable. We often use "would" when we talk about
    imagined situations, but we can also use it to talk about typical behaviour and habits in the past. Modal
    verbs and conditional clauses are often very ambiguous! But context usually helps us clarify their exact
    meaning.

    The rules above seem to cover a lot of ground, but do not offer a full explanation. We should
    remember that there are a few (mostly semantic) limitations to conditional clauses. For example, we
    have to be careful with modal verbs. On the other hand, "will" can be used in conditional clauses in
    some special cases. Not to mention that "if" is not the only word we can use to introduce a conditional
    clause. But issues such as these deserve separate treatment.
    Example sentences in this blog post have been adapted from Cambridge University's English Grammar
    Today available at:
    http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
    * The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Huddleston and Pullum, Cambridge University Press
    2002)
    Posted by Pawel Wysocki at 7:46 AM

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